Assembly comprising a presser foot and a graduated rule

ABSTRACT

An assembly comprising a presser foot and at least one graduated rule consisting of a plate hingedly secured to the sole portion of the presser foot and extending prolongation of said sole portion and in the same plane, the hinge axis extending in a direction transverse to said sole portion, the main advantage being that the presser foot is equally suitable for satin stitch, buttonholing and normal or straight stitch sewing operations without changing the presser foot when passing from satin stitch sewing to straight stitch sewing.

United States Patent Fresard Sept. 17, 1974 ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A PRESSER 1.103836 7 1914 Raplcc 112/151 FOOT AND A GRADUATED RULE 2,147,128 2/1939 Sailer 2,814,266 11/1957 Marshall 112/235 Marcel Fresard, Petit-Lancy, Geneva, Switzerland Assignee: Melfina S.A., Fribourg, Switzerland Filed: Mar. 29, 1973 Appl. No.: 345,852

Inventor:

Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 7, 1972 Switzerland 5112/72 U.S. Cl. 112/150, 112/235 Int. Cl. D05b 29/00, D05b 35/12 Field of Search 112/150, 151, 136, 235,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Primary ExaminerH. Hampton Hunter Attorney, Agent, or FirmEm0ry L. Groff; Emory L. Groff, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT An assembly comprising a presser foot and at least one graduated rule consisting of a plate hingedly secured to the sole portion of the presser foot and extending prolongation of said sole portion and in the same plane, the hinge axis extending in a direction transverse to said sole portion, the main advantage being that the presser foot is equally suitable for satin stitch, buttonholing and normal or straight stitch sewing operations without changing the presser foot when passing from satin stitch sewing to straight stitch sewing.

8 Claims, Drawing Figures PAIENTEBSEPITIQH I amsivsa SHEET 1 UF 2 PAIENIEDSEPI H914 3.8%.798

SHEEI 2 [IF 2 ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A PRESSER FOOT AND A GRADUATED RULE The present invention relates to an assembly comprising a presser foot and at least one graduated rule, particularly for measuring the length of a seam from a needle passage opening of said presser foot.

When sewing satin stitch patterns on a sewing machine comprising a zigzag mechanism and particularly when quick buttonholing, it is desirable to provide means for measuring the length of the seam in the course of the sewing operation. For quick buttonholing of a series of buttonholes, it is further desirable to provide means for precisely determining the distance, from the edge of the cloth sewn, of the buttonhole ends adjacent to said cloth edge before the beginning of the quick buttonholing operation.

Known assemblies of the above kind comprise at least one graduated rule extending forwardly or rearwardly of the presser foot and in the same plane.

However, such prior art presser foot assemblies are not satisfactory because they have a foot shape and size which make them unsuitable for normal sewing operations, the presser foot having to be changed at every passage from satin stitch sewing to normal or straight stitch sewing. Now it has proven possible to obviate the drawbacks of the prior art assemblies by providing a presser foot assembly which comprises a graduated rule hingedly mounted on the presser foot.

It is therefore a general object of the invention to provide a presser foot assembly comprising a graduated rule having an improved structure overcoming the drawbacks of prior art assemblies of this type.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a presser foot assembly comprising at least one graduated rule, particularly for measuring the length of a seam from a needle passage opening of said presser foot, said graduated rule extending forwardly or rearwardly of a sole portion of said presser foot and in the same plane, a plate means comprising said graduated rule and hinge means for hingedly securing said plate means to said sole portion of said presser foot, the hinge axis of said hinge means extending in a direction transverse to said sole portion of said presser foot.

Another object of the invention is to provide a presser foot assembly having hinge means comprising arms integral with said plate means, at least one of said arms being resiliently displaceable in the plane of said plate means, each one of said arms including on its surface opposite to the other arm a projection or recess engaged respectively in a recess or on a projection disposed on each one of the opposite lateral surfaces of a sole portion of the presser foot in a location near to one of the ends of said sole portion.

A further object of the invention is to provide a presser foot assembly having plate means made of a material which is at least translucent.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a presser foot assembly having plate means made of synthetic material and hinge means comprising arms forming integral portions of said plate means.

Still another object of the invention is to provide presser foot assembly having arms provided on both sides of a notch formed in one of the ends of a plate means, at least one slot forming an extension of said notch along at least one of said arms for conferring to said arm a resiliency required for its resilient displacement in the plane of said plate means.

Various other more detailed objects, features and advantages of the invention, such as arise in connection with carrying out the invention in practical embodiments, will be in part obvious, and in part be stated in the following description.

For a fuller description of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view, on an enlarged scale, of a presser foot assembly forming an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view on an enlarged scale of the assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side view, similar to FIG. 1, illustrating the graduated rule and a sole portion of the presser foot of the assembly of the FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 4 is a top view, similar to FIG. 2, of a presser foot assembly forming another embodiment of the invention.

It should, ofcourse, be understood that the description and drawing herein are illustrative only, and that various modifications and changes can be made in the structure disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views of the drawings.

A presser foot, forming a part of a first embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1-3, comprises a sole portion 4 hingedly secured by means of a pin 5 to a support member 6 provided with a stirrup 7 for the mounting of the presser foot on the presser rod of a sewing machine.

The sole portion 4 of the presser foot has a conventional. needle passage opening 8 for the sewing needle of the sewing machine and a slot 9 for allowing the introduction of the upper thread in the opening 8 when preparing the machine for a sewing operation.

A graduated rule, forming a part of the first embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 3, consists of a plate 10 made of transparent synthetic material. The plate 10 is provided with a notch 11, having a width corresponding to the width of the sole portion 4 of the presser foot at its rear end. The lateral edges of the notch 11 form two arms 12, 13 having nipples or projections 14 projecting from their opposite lateral surfaces and disposed for snap-in engagement with recesses 15 provided on each one of the lateral surfaces of the sole portion 4 of the presser foot in a location near to the rear end of the presser foot.

The notch 11 continues along the arm 13 of the plate 10 in form of a slot 16 for conferring to the arm 13 in the plane of the plate 10 the elasticity required for allowing a spreading of the arms 12 and 13 when mounting and dismounting the plate 10 on and from the sole portion 4 of the presser foot, respectively.

Both sides of the rear end of the sole portion 4 of the presser foot are provided with a ramp 17a and 17b respectively for guiding the nipples 14 of the arms 12 and 13 of the plate 10 in the direction of the recesses 15 of said lateral surfaces of the sole portion 4 of the presser foot (FIG. 3). On the other hand, ramps 17c cause a progressive spreading of the arms 12, 13 of the plate 10 up to the moment of the engagement of the nipples l4 of the arms 12, 13 in the recesses 15 of the sole portion 4, when the plate is being mounted on the sole portion 4.

As shown in FIG. 2, the plate 10 is provided with a graduation or scale beginning at the center of the needle passage opening 8 of the sole portion 4 of the presser foot. This graduation is set up in a manner such that the position of the recesses in the lateral surfaces of the sole portion 4 as well as the position of the nipples 14 on the opposite surfaces of the arms 12 and 13 of the plate 10 are taken into account.

The mounting of the plate 10 on the sole portion 4 of the presser foot of the sewing machine can be achieved by a simple displacement of the plate 10 in the direction from the right to the left side of the FIG. 3 on the needle hole plate of the sewing machine, when the sole portion 4 of the presser foot is in its lowered position on said needle hole plate.

The plate 10 is mounted for pivotal movement in the recesses 15 of the sole portion 4 of the presser foot. Thus, the plate 10 is allowed to be lifted by a reinforced seam at the time of the passage of this seam, even though the presser foot remains in contact with the cloth to be sewn. Plate 10 may be easily separated from the sole portion 4 by spreading the arms 12 and 13.

Preferably, the sole portion 4 of the presser foot is made of transparent synthetic material like the plate 10. The sole portion 4 and the plate 10 could, however, be made of translucent or opaque material, e.g., of metallic material. In this latter case, it may be desirable to provide the plate 10 with a longitudinal median slot leaving the area where the seam passes uncovered. Thus, measuring of the length of the seam in the course of the sewing operation is made possible.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the plate 10 is enlarged in the direction of its free end, in order to facilitate the reading of the graduation provided on the plate 10.

Various other embodiments of the present assembly may be considered without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Instead of releaseably mounting the plate 10 on the rear end of the sole portion 4 of the presser foot of the sewing machine, for measuring the length of a seam obtained in the course of a sewing operation in the forward direction, the plate 10 may be mounted at the front end of the sole portion 4 of the presser foot, thus allowing the measuring of the length of a seam obtained in the course of a sewing operation in the rearward direction.

Instead of being integral with the plate 10, the arms 12, 13 could be made of separate pieces fastened to the plate 10.

Instead of snap-in hinge means comprising nipples 14 and recesses 15 for mounting the arms l2, 13 of plate 10 on the lateral faces of the rear end of the sole portion 4 of the presser foot, any other mounting means could be provided, e.g., a pin engaged in a boring formed in the hinge axis of the arms 12, 13 on the sole portion 4 of the presser foot.

Further, the arms 12 and 13 of the plate 10 could include the recesses 15 or be bored right through and the sole portion 4 could be provided on its lateral surfaces with the nipples 14.

While certain preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated by way of example in the drawing, and particularly described, it will be understood, that the inventionis in no way limited to the embodiments shown. Since certain changes may be made in the above described embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description, or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative, rather than in a limiting sense. It is also to be understood, that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statement of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new and secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An assembly comprising a presser foot including a sole portion, a detachable graduated rule for measuring the length of a seam from a needle passage opening in said presser foot, said graduated rule comprising plate means, hinge means pivotally connecting said plate means adjacent the rear edge of the sole portion of said presser foot, the axis of said hinge means extending in a direction transverse to said sole portion of said presser foot, said plate means being pivotable to a raised position against the bar of the presser foot for sewing operations where measuring is not required and pivotable to a lowered position in the same plane as the sole of said presser foot for measuring the length of a seam.

2. An assembly according to claim 1, wherein said hinge means comprise arms integral with said plate means, at least one of said arms being resiliently displaceable in the plane of said plate means, each one of said arms including on its surface opposite to the other arm a projection engaged respectively in a recess disposed on each one of the opposite lateral surfaces of said sole portion of the presser foot in a location near to one of the ends of said sole portion.

3. An assembly according to claim 1, wherein said plate means is made of a material which is at least translucent.

4. An assembly according to claim 1, in which said plate means is made of synthetic material, said hinge means comprising arms forming integral portions of said plate means, at least one of said arms being resiliently displaceable in the plane of said plate means.

5. An assembly according to claim 3, wherein said plate means is made of a synthetic material.

6. An assembly according to claim 4 in which said arms are provided on both sides of a notch formed in one of the ends of said plate means, at least one slot forming an extension of said notch along at least one of said arms for conferring to said arm the resiliency required for its resilient displacement in the plane of said plate means, each one of said arms including on its surface opposite to the other arm a projection engaged in a recess disposed on each one of the opposite lateral surfaces of said sole portion of said presser foot in a location near to one of the ends of said sole portion.

7. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said hinge means comprises arms integral with said plate means, at least one of said arms being resiliently displaceable in the plane of said plate means, each one of said arms having a recess on its surface opposite to the other arm, a projection on each one of the opposite lateral surfaces of said sole portion of the presser foot in a location near to one of the ends of said sole portion and engaged in said related recess.

its surface opposite to the other arm, a projection on each one of the opposite lateral surfaces of said sole portion of said presser foot in a location near to one of the ends of said sole portion and engaged in said related recess. 

1. An assembly comprising a presser foot including a sole portion, a detachable graduated rule for measuring the length of a seam from a needle passage opeNing in said presser foot, said graduated rule comprising plate means, hinge means pivotally connecting said plate means adjacent the rear edge of the sole portion of said presser foot, the axis of said hinge means extending in a direction transverse to said sole portion of said presser foot, said plate means being pivotable to a raised position against the bar of the presser foot for sewing operations where measuring is not required and pivotable to a lowered position in the same plane as the sole of said presser foot for measuring the length of a seam.
 2. An assembly according to claim 1, wherein said hinge means comprise arms integral with said plate means, at least one of said arms being resiliently displaceable in the plane of said plate means, each one of said arms including on its surface opposite to the other arm a projection engaged respectively in a recess disposed on each one of the opposite lateral surfaces of said sole portion of the presser foot in a location near to one of the ends of said sole portion.
 3. An assembly according to claim 1, wherein said plate means is made of a material which is at least translucent.
 4. An assembly according to claim 1, in which said plate means is made of synthetic material, said hinge means comprising arms forming integral portions of said plate means, at least one of said arms being resiliently displaceable in the plane of said plate means.
 5. An assembly according to claim 3, wherein said plate means is made of a synthetic material.
 6. An assembly according to claim 4 in which said arms are provided on both sides of a notch formed in one of the ends of said plate means, at least one slot forming an extension of said notch along at least one of said arms for conferring to said arm the resiliency required for its resilient displacement in the plane of said plate means, each one of said arms including on its surface opposite to the other arm a projection engaged in a recess disposed on each one of the opposite lateral surfaces of said sole portion of said presser foot in a location near to one of the ends of said sole portion.
 7. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein said hinge means comprises arms integral with said plate means, at least one of said arms being resiliently displaceable in the plane of said plate means, each one of said arms having a recess on its surface opposite to the other arm, a projection on each one of the opposite lateral surfaces of said sole portion of the presser foot in a location near to one of the ends of said sole portion and engaged in said related recess.
 8. An assembly according to claim 4 in which said arms are provided on both sides of a notch formed in one of the ends of said plate means, at least one slot forming an extension of said notch along at least one of said arms for conferring to said arm the resiliency required for its resilient displacement in the plane of said plate means, each one of said arms having a recess on its surface opposite to the other arm, a projection on each one of the opposite lateral surfaces of said sole portion of said presser foot in a location near to one of the ends of said sole portion and engaged in said related recess. 